The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland

British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self-determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland conflict by substituting political contestation for violent conflict, and by defining the modalities of conducting that contestation. This analysis complements classical international law perspectives, and opens up the application of legal discourses associated with 'transitional justice' to the legal and political transformation in Northern Ireland. These discourses focus on the problem of reconciling the demands of peace with the imperatives of justice. The Agreement sits squarely in this terrain with its provisions on 'dealing with the past' and 'institutional legacies'. The insights gained here challenge orthodox thinking about conflict-management and the ongoing political process.     

解读“国家尊重和保障人权”——析宪法修改对刑事诉讼法再修改的影响

修改后的宪法确立了“国家尊重和保障人权”原则。从修宪的背景、修宪的精神以及立法机关的解释可以解读出 ,该原则强调人权的个体性、非工具性和非功利性。我国现行刑事诉讼法的目的具有极强的功利性 ,对权利保障的规定具有浓厚的工具色彩。因此 ,刑事诉讼法再修改时 ,应当以修宪所确立的人权保障内涵和要求为检视标准 ,重新界定刑事诉讼法的目的 ,确立或修改相关的诉讼原则、制度和规则。     

刑事诉讼强制措施的适用应遵守比例原则——兼论相关检察监督

刑事强制措施作为刑事诉讼的重要手段和保障措施长期以来得到了充分的运用,但法律有关强制措施强度及其适用的规定存在着明显不足,客观上导致其在实践中被不正确适用甚至滥用。引进比例原则,对强制措施的适用加以合理限制,使其与被追诉人适用的刑罚相谐调,有利于其在刑事诉讼中发挥合理效能。     

行政法上私权的梳理

行政法同宪法、刑法等法律一样,被公认为公法。这样的研究思路是片面的,而且也与当今行政法私权发展的能动态势不相吻合。实际上,行政法并非是纯粹的公法,准确地说,它是带有私权文化色彩的公法。行政法的真正精神在于:通过抽象的公权来维护具体的私权,私权是其本源与归宿。行政法上的私权主要分为:自主性私权、请求性私权、沟通性私权、参与性私权和救济性私权。每一类私权中又包含一些具体的私权。     

民主市场的交易规则——以代表机关的议决原则为中心

多数决原则把保护作用与效率融为一体 ,所以常常被选定为代表机关的最合适的议决规则 ,它不仅使多数人的意志得到贯彻和执行 ,同时还意味着对少数人意志和权利的平等尊重和保护。多数决原则在实践中有着不同的模式与变异 ;一个国家采用何种类别的多数规则 ,要看其要求何种程度的效率与保护才能确定。我国表决议案一律由代表机关全体成员的过半数通过 ,这是我国民主的广泛性和真实性的具体表现 ,但又存在着值得改进之处。     

试论行政相对人程序性权利的设定原则

随着程序权利观念的不断深入,世界各国对行政程序越来越重视,相对人在行政程序上的权利,已成为现代行政法学研究的重要课题。目前法学理论对行政相对人程序性权利的研究颇多,但由于程序性权利内容广泛并处于不断变化发展之中,所以笔者认为明确相对人程序性权利的设定原则最为关键。文章从行政相对人的性质、地位着手,提出了信息交流畅通原则、操作简易性原则、事前保护为主和事后保护为辅的原则、保护基本权利的原则等设定行政相对人程序性权利应遵循的原则。     

COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY,MINORITY THREAT,AND POLICE BRUTALITY: AN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS*

A growing body of evidence shows that minorities are disproportionately the targets of police brutality, but important theoretical questions about the causes of that inequity remain unanswered. One promising line of research involves structural‐level analyses of the incidence of police brutality complaints; however, existing studies do not incorporate variables from alternative theoretical explanations. Drawing on the community accountability hypothesis and the threat hypothesis, we tested the predictions of two prominent structural‐level explanations of police brutality in a study of civil rights criminal complaints. The study included cities of 150,000+ population (n = 114). The findings reveal that two community accountability variables—ratio percent Hispanic citizens to percent Hispanic police officers and the presence of citizen review—were related positively to police brutality complaints, partially supporting that perspective. Two threat hypothesis measures of threatening people—percent black and percent Hispanic (in the Southwest)—were related positively to complaints, as predicted. The relative degree of support for the two hypotheses is assessed.     

宪政视角下的国家刑罚权

国家刑罚权是一柄双刃剑,既能保证人权,也容易侵犯人权,因此必须以宪政的精神对刑罚权予以规制,特别是要以正当法律程序对其规制,使刑罚权更加谦抑、更符合人道性,这也是契合宪政之道的。